Unnecessary thoughts on an unnecessary product

Like theOnion once said about bugsnax: looks like shit honestly.

but for a window of six weeks it will be one of the nine most watched shows on netflix.

it is really easy to say that the netflix dmc show is bad now. but it was also really easy to say before it aired at all and the entire time it was teased.

i was prepared for the worst. and by that i mean i wanted to set my personal love of the series qualities aside and just judge it as a use of the franchise and new tv show, and for the bad part look out for versions of the characters that expressed vile ideologies that overshadowed the original somewhat sophisticated intent of the game authors. And a political message that was violent and insensitive yet very popular with the viewership.

and in a way we did get that with some offensive stereotypes but the views expressed in this show were so childish that i dont think they’re politically dangerous or anything. In the grand scheme of things of course they contribute to a general attitude towards ignorance.

i was really relieved that it turned out to be boring because i dont have to care about it at all. it also helps that most people rightfully talk shit about this show so i havent feel alienated from people that share my interests or just people i have to see due to algorithms at all. quite the opposite actually i think people have been very good at critiquing it and explaining why they like original dmc. the only bad critique i have seen has been from people that are obviously very young or inexperienced or weirdly aggressive in protecting people/properties theyre in parasocial relationships with. of course i was surprised to see some artists that i respected for their visual talent turn to be disrespectful and inconsiderate towards people with legitimate concerns. So i guess the takeaway from that is looks arent everything, not even when its drawn. still disappointing to see.

conscious distribution of attention

the situation falls under the same banner as everything else happening in the public conscious nowadays: giving attention to something for intruding on our daily patterns instead of diverting positive attention to the people that deserve it.

i dont care in the way i dont care about hazbin hotel. both shows make such obvious mistakes that literally anyone who makes doylist critique can see it. so i managed to be mad at the writing for a hot second until i thought about how theres nothing to be learned from this that i dont already know and have seen a million times.

the shitty writing, flanderization of tropes, appeal to kids, fake edge, parasocial social media presence, immature creator, insensitive content and inability to take critique, and the more i thought about it the more the thing just felt like hazbin hotel to me.

so i was a huge fan of vivziepop as a teenager. when i felt like shit i used newgrounds cartoons and webcomics to get away from that and her zootopia universe was exciting and transgressive in the way it dedicated itself to popular fandom tropes and furry subculture. I channeled the energy into learning cartoon drawing of course, including learning her style among my other favorites.

but when she started acting immature and disrespectful towards her fans for making honestly sensible demands and genuine good faith constructive critisism i just had to unfollow her. there were other creators to follow with better work and better attitudes and i soon learned more advanced drawing and writing techniques and moved on.

its weird to see that she has stayed seemingly making the same content with the same attitude for years, and that people still like it, enough to make her a successful professional despite never making a finished comic. although it seems to be mainly kids or people that like to be uncritical anyways. They still tell me her attitude hurts them as fans though, so i hope they learn to be less attached to her, and other creators that hold this emotional power.

the entertainment industry works with people like this though. the least critical people usually get put in charge if the company isnt attentive and they just collect yes men in and outside the organization. so that is no surprise either.

its so common for voice actors to have bad conduct that at this point im looking into idealizing the voice directors instead.

it is easy to stop idolizing people, or possible at least. theres time, and other people, and examining why you like them at all, and why they make their mistakes, and recognizing the benefits you get from not idolizing them anymore, like requiring your interests to do better or attempt it. prioritize empathy and coherency in the things that have your attention. also youre allowed to be a kid with bad taste. it is perhaps essential. but your teen years is also when you should start taking politics seriously and examining your consumption patterns.

but rather then tell kids to grow up and stop harassing adults for being critical of their interests online, id really like it if we didnt share a space at all.

centralized fandom

people dont really suck. but crowds certainly do. firstly i want to attribute the downhill design of the internet to how shitty any engagement with fandom has become.

dmc was nice for me in the way that it was "dead" franchise not currently at the forefront of attention but certain topics collected the fans. as in if you posted about it you were expected to care because it had no relevance to quick media consumption. but netflix stuff has been something spectacle like that like nothing else.

when usually nobody cared about what i made, several strangers sent unwarranted (what i would consider) overreactions because of what i can only assume is refreshing the tag and reading any and all things posted in there regardless of popularity and source. but i have also received a lot of positive attention (way more like genuinely times hundreds) for taking a very negative stance on the show and its production.

when i did see fanartists i usually respected for their maturity on working with media, express some very unexpected opinions, it got me thinking more deeply about the nature of disagreements in specialized social spaces. and i have to say my conclusion is its basically impossible to have fun online anymore.

so who actually makes fandom content?  you have to be a bit weird to spend all your time obsessing over an open and closed story for a commercial property that continues to be pretty irrelevant to average society. So that already filters most people out. Next you have to spend energy and time engaging with it. whether that be learning to do some truly sick fanart or reading novelsworth of text, so you probably dont have that much going on. For example when i go to work and go out on the same weekend i only have time to make a fast doodle and not really practice, so it never gets to professional level.

What’s left is a pretty specific group who likely prioritize uncritical consumption over realistic standards for engagement with media and other people.

It would be nice if liking the same series meant a real connection but we all come from different backgrounds. So for one we like the series for different reasons. and second i would say at the heart of this conflict is that we have different points of view according to privilege and experience.

I for one value antifacism a lot. Not enough to not enjoy mass consumer media at all but pretty close. If i spent more time playing around with a series than deconstructing my privilege to sit at home and game and draw i would probably be disappointed in myself.

And i wont lie i extend that criticism to others so it peeves me off when people prioritize fandom over real life. Even if extremely conscious prioritization isnt that constructive ive kinda learned that it helps to constructively improve from being an anime shut in for most of my life and you know im told i adjust well and is nice to talk about anime with so im confident enough about going about it this way.

I also don't think, and this might be my main point, its a good idea to tie your sense of self to something like a product that you dont know who made and have no control over. it always leads to disappointment. At least that is what i think is happening when people get mad enough to attack individual people over seeing critique of their favorite thing. But i know its really hard not to because an experience with media can be really personal and its hard when other people disrespect that.

actual first thoughts

I watched it with my friend i usually watch trigun with who doesnt know dmc at all and after 3 eps we were genuinely bored and rewatched severance instead. Like not to try and sound cool or anything but i couldnt find it in me to care and they couldnt get into it either. Because the netflix show is just a speedrun of the plot but with the stakes and emotion taken out (rewritten characters) and most of it is exposition and a cop plot made up by the writer that is just not for adults really or interesting to watch at all by the writing.

you can tell the creator doesnt like dmc because there was very little of what makes dmc worthwhile and it was all copy pasted. it had a couple of funny jokes i laughed at. Soundtrack also felt very stale but we were vibing to rollin and also ended up listening to music instead.

I dont like this studios animation but it was very detailed and shaded this time and in a couple scenes colored nice. The gore and impact effects were nice but i zoned out at the action when it wasnt interesting or just copied cutscenes. Read a summary of the rest because i had to know what the politics of it ended up being but i didnt want to actually sit through it and i dont care what they did with the characters/plot points of the franchise. What i saw was pointless and stupid.

If you liked this show its probably some of your only anime or action series and in that case its not the worst thing to start out with. Or you picked up on the good things from the games that it featured however poorly. Good on you for that honestly, i hope you can find the time and energy to play the games and enjoy yourself. but however it sucks that the netflix show was dumbed and watered down because i feel sorry if you have to find out that this series has weird mature themes and dislikable characters. its what i like about it but its not for everyone. and fuck having a homogenous audience for everything anyways.

actual content offit

the campaign around it was filled with conservative extremists, false marketing yadda yadda you can look that up. The reasons a lot of us hated the actual content was this: Demonstrating the logic of a child as the one of the universe and show itself (reliance on stereotypes, single-minded characters, arbitrary good and evil). Not trusting any scene-setting methods to carry meaning and not slowing down to pace emotional beats that express diverse and complicated themes and instead filling screentime to the brim with action or fast-paced dialogue.

The demonstrative necessary non-dialogue scenes being difficult to sit through due to the lack of interest from the production team in filling them with foreshadowing and fleshing out details.

Overexplaining everything, leaving nothing to interpretation or speculation or subtly. And that universe explained being exceptionally boring because it misunderstands the driving forces behind its influences and take them at surface level. lacking any actual story structure in lieu of the contemporary method of procedurally feeding the audience more secrets or developments that make little logical sense to what is previously established and discourages audience prediction, mood-setting, self-motivated emotional engagement and once again speculation.

Only between seasons is any speculation encouraged to drive engagement with marketing and to this the official sources share downright wrong information about their own show to maximize spectacle.

Although the show pretended to be progressive, what it actually demonstrated was entirely in line with it being run with adult children with narrow, bigoted views. When international war is trivial to you, you choose to make it the spectacle of superheroes. simple as. blackened angel pointed out that applying american propaganda-informed views to dmc feels particularly insidious because it is a japanese franchise that includes themes of vulnerable integrity and war trauma. and i 100% agree. where the issues of the original series lied in the bigotry of the beauty and entertainment industry because it pulled from those influences, this feels more current and shitty. in a way japanese cult franchises have their own simulation of the american cultural colonization that has prevailed since the cold war, from commercial to political.

but yeah this is still about video games. you can find the macro in the micro and so on. when i first played dmc my thoughts were overwhelmingly  “you cant make something like this today.” in the way that it didnt insist upon itself like an ad with the purpose of making you take it seriously and spend more money on it. it had spiritual and emotional messaging lended from religion and myth which was quite surprising to see in todays landscape of overrationalization.

demon symbolism

as a modern story dmc has a lot to offer. which made the poor political message hard to watch (or well, read a summary of). I really like how demons and evil are presented in dmc. As something people are capable of, and also capable of rejecting.

Evil leads to this unhindered mindset that allows one to gain power, in a pretty clear expression of supremacy, the one which has the most universal appliance being the masculine.

I REALLY like how evil/demon was made synonymous with "power". its this nice buzzword that can be thrown in at any time that makes the player pay attention to how the main theme of the series is currently being examined.

Inspired by classical literature, dmc REALLY likes its masculine/feminine dichotomy. and neither is ever considered to be entirely incorrect. As a man, you can just beat women, elderly and children at any time. youve got the social and physical power. Although this is at the heart of social fear and oppression, this is a fact that society mostly doesnt want to confront, but can be very easily shown with the demon allegory. dmc borrows this from other series but uses it nicely imo.

What i think a hypermasculine franchise can offer is the acknowledgement of the ability to express evil. overpowering someone or something is fun, being violent can be fun and feels emotionally necessary. its wrong, but acknowledging that we have the capacity for it is healthier than picture-perfect morally correct media. its easy to draw a line to media that acknowledges fear and ugliness as general qualities of horror and underground. dmc's clear embracing of violence and masculinity feels important and warranted as a method of expression for this reason.

it is of course disheartening that the majority of fans take away uncritical reliance on masculinity from this series and indulge in toxic behavior but that is what the world wants from them when they put down the controller and go out mingling in the real world.

To me the demonic doesnt as much enable evil in dante and other characters as it gives them a connection to the underworld, which in itself is allegorical for the real life criminal underworld, but at the same time not really because it exists too. Dmc draws a pretty clear line where crime drama ends and scary horror magic begins. Its not a direct metaphor.

In so far as an allegory though. It means that dante was born belonging to the underworld because of his dad, even though sparda tried to escape to another class by marrying a noblewoman. What makes dante a special hero is that he was born from the Ultra Underworld and has proficiency in advanced weapons (magic) at the same time he is the lamest mercenary because he was raised as a noble, homeschooled and spoiled. it makes for interesting conflict on a deeper thematic level and just for moe (give this man his sweet treats).

the characters were designed pretty well in the original. theyre certainly fun to think about like this. so anyway this got me thinking about another “you couldnt make this today.” argument there was of course a lot of stereotypes in main roles but even some that the audience enjoyed. a rule i have for fiction that i enjoy is (which i picked up after watching a lot of anime and getting deeply tired of some of it): does it let people be weird?

besides not having racism and sexism etc. does it celebrate the ways in which people are different culturally and psychologically? does it believe in the inherent goodness of people? does it use its platform of expression to show us lifestyles real and imagined we might otherwise not have a look into?

what doesnt do this is idealized shows about being special with heavy stereotyping which only loves its main characters. the bad ones are evil and everybody else doesnt matter and its the badly disguised values of the status quo. if it has a weird agenda about what a "better person" is because its trying to sell you something. it is an ad and we can turn the screen off now.

anyway, Capcom is a constant perpetrator of some shitty values including american propaganda, but has had pretty high integrity with the dmc franchise until recently. so this development came unexpected. i dont believe in begging big media companies to be more ethical. im just dissapointed in the complete power they hold over the opinions of young and kinda isolated individuals. but mostly i just want fan subculture to be fun.

You can do immaturity in a beneficial, self aware manner. This wasnt that. I felt as an adult there was nothing to come after. Talked down to, expected to laugh at cheap effortless "relatable" humor borrowed from elsewhere, made to take a plot seriously that lacked respect for its audience or the real world influences it pulled from. Its what i expected going into actaual dmc before i was pleasantly surprised. And its like most things coming out these days: just attention grabbing slop with no longstanding benefit to the auďience as it insists upon itself. But theres so much good anime and tv and gamings coming out rn that id rather just forget whatever marketing stunt this was and pay attention to something good.